Target Classifications

At its most simple, a handicap can be viewed as a measure of precision (i.e. group size or consistency). The smaller the handicap, the smaller the group and the better the score.

Indoor Classifications

The Archery GB Indoor Classification and Handicap scheme allows archers of all levels to benchmark their skill and progress through various awards from the Indoor Archer 3rd Class to Indoor Grand Master Bowman.

There are eight different classification levels available to all archers, which are grouped into three sets. An archer starts at the Archer tier, with 3rd Class, 2nd Class and 1st Class awards. They then move up to the Bowman tier, again with 3rd Class, 2nd Class and 1st Class, and then finally the Master Bowman tier, where the naming gets a little more fun with Indoor Master Bowman (MB) and Indoor Grand Master Bowman (GMB).

These levels cover the full range of experience for the vast majority of archers, Archer 3rd Class is achievable by many new archers within their first year or two in the sport, whereas Indoor Grand Master Bowman requires consistently high performance.

Full details of the scheme and the required scores for each round can be found here.

Your club records officer can help you to calculate and award your classification. If you want to look up the classifications of individual scores, you can do so using the classification tables linked from this page, various scoring apps, or online calculators such as https://archerycalculator.co.uk/ or https://archerygeekery.co.uk/

Outdoor Classifications

There are nine different classification levels available to all archers, which are grouped into three sets of three. An archer starts with the Archer tier, with 3rd Class, 2nd Class and 1st Class awards. They then move up to the Bowman tier, again with 3rd Class, 2nd Class and 1st Class, and then finally the Master Bowman tier, where the naming gets a little more fun with Master Bowman (MB), Grand Master Bowman (GMB) and Elite Master Bowman (EMB).

The Archery GB website contains the official handicap and classification tables and also a tool to calculate handicap and classifications for a given score. Many people also make use of third-party online tables, calculators or score-tracking apps for calculating their handicaps and classifications. Whilst it may take some time for all of these to become up-to-date with the new schemes, these two online calculators already support the new tables: Archery Calculator and Archery Geekery.